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| Utopia's Price: A Chinese tourist drinks from a fountain, one of the few free facilities in Shangri-La. Peter Ford |
It's paradise lost as tourists flock to Shangri-La
Officially named in 2001, this small town in China's Yunnan Province is struggling to cope with over 2 million visitors a year.
from the November 29, 2007 edition
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That is not necessarily a bad thing for locals. "Tourism is very good; ordinary people's lives have improved a lot," says Abu Wandui, who lives in Shangri-La's only old house and who collects money from visitors "to pay for incense" at the Ming Dynasty Buddhist shrine in his living room. He sniffs at any offering under $10.
But most of the hotels, the travel agents, the bus companies, and even many of the shops are owned not by Tibetans but by Han Chinese businessmen, residents say.
"I'd say that 65 percent of the profits go to outside businessmen, 10 percent to the government, 20 percent to local businessmen, and less than 10 percent to local villagers," says Zhaxi Duoji, a local hotelier and environmental activist who has plowed profits from his guide business into a charity helping Tibetan children.
And the development of tourism masks other problems, Mr. Zhaxi says. "The authorities pay attention only to the decoration of the town," he charges. "Basic requirements are unmet. Waste water goes straight into the river. And for the restoration of the old city a lot of trees were cut down" in a nearby village where commercial logging is illegal.
"The main purpose is profit," Zhaxi adds, "so they develop tourism blindly, ignoring changes to the environment." At the same time, he worries, "Tibetan culture's capacity to absorb mass tourism is very low."
That is the challenge that faces Zhang Wenqiong, who manages Xintuo, a "green tourism" agency in Lijiang, four hours' drive into the valley.
Ms. Zhang runs small eco-tours to the villages and pastures inhabited by her fellow Naxi minority herders. Her clients explore the mountains on foot or on horseback, staying in local homes and supporting the local economy in an environmentally friendly fashion.
This is not yet the Chinese way. "Ninety-eight percent of my customers are foreigners," says Zhang. "Most Chinese like to be in big groups, going by bus to scenic spots.
"Chinese tourists tend not to be interested in how local minorities live, or in their cultures," she adds. "They just like to take pictures of nice views."
There are plenty of those in this mountainous region where three of Asia's great rivers – the Yangtze, the Irawaddy, and the Mekong – run through spectacular gorges.
But "mass tourism is putting enormous pressure" on the region, says Zhang, who says she constantly must seek out more remote destinations to satisfy clients drawn here by its reputation as one of the last wild places on earth.
"When Chinese tourists, and even some farmers here, see me picking up plastic bags left on the ground, they ask me why I bother," she laughs. "Perhaps when our company is stronger, we can fund projects to educate people about the environment."
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